Benay Venuta
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Benay Venuta
Benay Venuta (born Benvenuta Rose Crooke, January 27, 1910 – September 1, 1995) was an American actress, singer and dancer. Early life Born in San Francisco, Venuta was a graduate of Hollywood High School. She attended finishing school in Geneva and lived in London where she worked as a dancer before returning to the States. Her father was English, and her mother was Swiss-Italian. Film Venuta made her first screen appearance in the silent ''Trail of '98'' in 1928. She also appeared in '' Annie Get Your Gun'' (as Dolly Tate), ''Call Me Mister'', and ''Bullets over Broadway''. (Another source says her first movie role was in ''Repeat Performance''.) The finale of ''Call Me Mister'' is a production number of “Love is Back in Business” staged by Busby Berkeley, ending with four leading players on a precarious, high-rising disc surrounded by water fountains. Venuta is replaced here by a lookalike in the same clothes. Asked in the 1970s about this, she explained: “Be ...
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Charles E
Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was "free man". The Old English descendant of this word was '' Ċearl'' or ''Ċeorl'', as the name of King Cearl of Mercia, that disappeared after the Norman conquest of England. The name was notably borne by Charlemagne (Charles the Great), and was at the time Latinized as ''Karolus'' (as in ''Vita Karoli Magni''), later also as '' Carolus''. Some Germanic languages, for example Dutch and German, have retained the word in two separate senses. In the particular case of Dutch, ''Karel'' refers to the given name, whereas the noun ''kerel'' means "a bloke, fellow, man". Etymology The name's etymology is a Common Germanic noun ''*karilaz'' meaning "free man", which survives in English as churl (< Old English ''ċeorl''), which developed its depr ...
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Broadway Theatre
Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''Theatre'' as the proper noun in their names (12 others used neither), with many performers and trade groups for live dramatic presentations also using the spelling ''theatre''. or Broadway, are the theatrical performances presented in the 41 professional theatres, each with 500 or more seats, located in the Theater District and the Lincoln Center along Broadway, in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Broadway and London's West End together represent the highest commercial level of live theater in the English-speaking world. While the thoroughfare is eponymous with the district and its collection of 41 theaters, and it is also closely identified with Times Square, only three of the theaters are located on Broadway itself (namely the Broadwa ...
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Auntie Mame
''Auntie Mame: An Irreverent Escapade'' is a 1955 novel by American author Patrick Dennis chronicling the madcap adventures of a boy, Patrick, growing up as the ward of his Aunt Mame Dennis, the sister of his dead father. The book is often described as having been inspired by Dennis' real-life eccentric aunt, Marion Tanner, whose life and outlook mirrored those of Mame, but Dennis denied the connection. The novel was a runaway bestseller, setting records on the ''New York Times'' bestseller list, with more than 2 million copies in print during its initial publication. It became the basis of a stage play, a film, a stage musical, and a film musical. In 1958, Dennis wrote a sequel titled '' Around the World with Auntie Mame.'' Adaptations The novel was adapted for the stage by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee. Running from October 31, 1956, to June 28, 1958, at the Broadhurst Theatre, the original Broadway production starred Rosalind Russell in the title role. The original Br ...
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Come Blow Your Horn
''Come Blow Your Horn'' is Neil Simon's first play, which premiered on Broadway in 1961 and had a London production in 1962 at the Prince of Wales Theatre. Simon rewrote the script more than two dozen times over several years, resulting in a hit premiere that allowed Simon to leave his full-time television writing career to write stage and film scripts. Productions ''Come Blow Your Horn'' opened on Broadway at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre on February 22, 1961 and closed on October 6, 1962 after 677 performances and one preview. The cast featured Hal March (Alan Baker), Arlene Golonka, Warren Berlinger (Buddy), Lou Jacobi (Mr. Baker) and Pert Kelton (Mrs. Baker). The director was Stanley Prager, with sets and lighting by Ralph Alswang. It was produced by Arthur Cantor. The play opened in the West End in 1962 at the Prince of Wales Theatre, starring Michael Crawford as Buddy, Bob Monkhouse and David Kossoff. The play was revived at the Jewish Repertory Theater, New York City, r ...
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A Musical Fable
A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes''. It is similar in shape to the Ancient Greek letter alpha, from which it derives. The uppercase version consists of the two slanting sides of a triangle, crossed in the middle by a horizontal bar. The lowercase version can be written in two forms: the double-storey a and single-storey ɑ. The latter is commonly used in handwriting and fonts based on it, especially fonts intended to be read by children, and is also found in italic type. In English grammar, " a", and its variant " an", are indefinite articles. History The earliest certain ancestor of "A" is aleph (also written 'aleph), the first letter of the Phoenician alphabet, which consisted entirely of consonants (for that reason, it is also called an abjad to distinguish it fro ...
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Bus Stop (play)
''Bus Stop'' is a 1955 play by American playwright William Inge. Produced on Broadway, it was nominated for four Tony awards in 1956. It received major revivals in the United States and United Kingdom in 2010 and 2011. ''Bus Stop'' was adapted as a 1956 film of the same name, directed by Joshua Logan and starring Marilyn Monroe and Don Murray. (None of the original Broadway cast repeated their roles for the film.) It was adapted as a 26-episode TV series, 1961-1962, produced on ABC. A special theater production broadcast from the Claremont Theater in California was aired in 1982 on HBO. Characters ''Bus Stop'' is a drama, with romantic and some comedic elements. It is set in a diner in rural Kansas, about 25 miles west of Kansas City, Missouri, during a snowstorm. The bus passengers had to take shelter here. The characters are: * Grace Hoylard – Owner of the diner. She is 40ish, and pretty in a fading, hard-bitten way. She has a passionate side to her nature, loving a go ...
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A Little Night Music
''A Little Night Music'' is a Musical theatre, musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Hugh Wheeler. Inspired by the 1955 Ingmar Bergman film ''Smiles of a Summer Night'', it involves the romantic lives of several couples. Its title is a literal English translation of the German name for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Mozart's Serenade No. 13, Köchel catalogue, K. 525, ''Eine kleine Nachtmusik''. The musical includes the popular song "Send In the Clowns", written for Glynis Johns. Since its original 1973 Broadway theatre, Broadway production, the musical has enjoyed professional productions in the West End theatre, West End, by opera companies, in a 2009 Broadway revival, and elsewhere, and it is a popular choice for regional groups. It was A Little Night Music (film), adapted for film in 1977, with Harold Prince directing and Elizabeth Taylor, Len Cariou, Lesley-Anne Down, and Diana Rigg starring. Synopsis Act One The setting is Sweden, around the year 1900. O ...
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Regional Theatre In The United States
A regional theater or resident theater in the United States is a professional or semi-professional theater company that produces its own seasons. The term ''regional theater'' most often refers to a professional theater outside New York City. A regional theater may be a for-profit or not-for-profit entity and may be unionized or non-union. Overview Regional theaters often produce new plays and challenging works that do not necessarily have the commercial appeal required of a Broadway production. Companies often round out their seasons with selections from classic dramas, popular comedies, and musicals. Some regional theaters have a loyal and predictable base of audience members, which can give the company latitude to experiment with a range of unknown or "non-commercial" works. In 2003, '' Time'' magazine praised regional theaters in general, and some top theaters in particular, for their enrichment of the theater culture in the United States. Some regional theaters serve as th ...
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Summer Stock
In American theater, summer-stock theater is a theater that presents stage productions only in the summer. The name combines the season with the tradition of staging shows by a resident company, reusing stock scenery and costumes. Summer stock theaters frequently take advantage of seasonal weather by having their productions outdoors or under tents set up temporarily for their use. Some smaller theaters still continue this tradition, and a few summer stock theaters have become highly regarded by both patrons as well as performers and designers. Often viewed as a starting point for professional actors, stock casts are typically young, just out of high school or still in college. Elitch Theatre Summer stock started in Denver, Colorado, at the Elitch Theatre (part of Elitch Gardens). A 1937 article in Time magazine reported: "Elitch's Gardens is the great-grandfather of all U. S. summer stock companies... and nearly every personage in U. S. show business, from General & Mrs. Tom Th ...
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Romantic Comedy (play)
''Romantic Comedy'' is a play by Bernard Slade, author of '' Same Time, Next Year''. Overview Phoebe Craddock and Jason Carmichael are playwrights who meet and decide to collaborate just as he is getting married. Their relationship produces first a failure and then a string of successes. Their repartée remains sharp and witty as their unrequited interest in each other gathers energy over a nine-year period, until some resolution finally is in sight.''Romantic Comedy''
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Production

The play opened on on November 8, 1979 after 11 previews at the

Hazel Flagg
''Hazel Flagg'' is a 1953 musical, book by Ben Hecht, based on a story by James H. Street. The lyrics are by Bob Hilliard, and music by Jule Styne. The musical is based on the 1937 screwball comedy film '' Nothing Sacred'', the primary screenwriter of which was Ben Hecht. Production The musical opened on Broadway at the Mark Hellinger Theatre on February 11 and closed on September 19, 1953, after 190 performances. Direction was by David Alexander, with musical staging by Robert Alton and costumes by Miles White. The cast included Helen Gallagher (Hazel), John Howard (Wallace Cook), Thomas Mitchell (Dr. Downer), Benay Venuta (Laura Carew), Jack Whiting (mayor of New York), Ross Martin (Dr. Egelhofer), Jonathan Harris (Oleander), Sheree North in her Broadway debut (Whitey), and John Brascia (Willie). Paramount Pictures, which owned the rights to the source material for ''Nothing Sacred'', also acquired the rights to produce a film version of ''Hazel Flagg''. The Dean Martin an ...
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By Jupiter
''By Jupiter'' is a musical theatre, musical with a book by Lorenz Hart and Richard Rodgers, music by Rodgers, and lyrics by Hart. The musical is based on the play ''The Warrior's Husband'' by Julian F. Thompson, set in the land of the Amazons. ''By Jupiter'' premiered on Broadway theatre, Broadway in 1942 and starred Ray Bolger, and was the last musical written by Rodgers and Hart; when Hart’s erratic behavior was often the cause of friction between him and Rodgers and led to a breakup of their partnership the following year before his death. Rodgers then began collaborating with Oscar Hammerstein II. Synopsis In the land of the Amazons the women rule and do battle while the men stay at home, mind the children, and buy new hats. An army of Greece, Greek soldiers, led by Theseus and Hercules, arrives in search of the Sacred Girdle of Diana (mythology), Diana, currently in the hands of reigning Queen Hippolyta. Accompanying them is war correspondent Homer, author of a recent best ...
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